


A Different Path

by mist_chance



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Varia Arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-23 05:33:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10713240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mist_chance/pseuds/mist_chance
Summary: Mukuro takes a more proactive approach to ensure the safety of his followers. Pre-Varia Arc AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cywscross](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Katekyo Hitman Reborn!_

The bird abruptly twisted its neck, switching its beady-eyed stare from its left eye to its right. Tsuna took a careful breath until his lungs ached, held it, and exhaled slowly.

“Hello, Rokudo Mukuro,” Tsuna said, hoping he didn’t look or sound as frightened as he felt. Reborn would’ve told him he had nothing to be scared of, but Tsuna had the strangest feeling he was in an illusion — Mukuro’s domain. This was mainly because they were in his bedroom, instead of the classroom he’d been dozing in a few seconds ago. Since that fight, he hadn’t been able to use (what Reborn called) his Hyper Dying Will mode, so Tsuna thought it was only right for him to feel a healthy dose of fear. “Is there something I can do for you?”

He asked that because it seemed anyone who talked to him these days wanted something from him (or something he could do for them), and because he doubted asking after Mukuro’s wellbeing would get a good reaction from the illusionist. If there was anything he’d learned from Reborn, it was how to ask questions that wouldn’t get him hurt. There were other things, of course, but acting the way a Mafia boss was supposed to while under an illusion probably wasn’t a good idea. (Self-preservation and following one’s instincts was another thing Reborn had tried to beat into his head, so Tsuna thought his current actions would be considered acceptable by his tutor’s ridiculously high standards.)

“As a matter of fact, Sawada Tsunayoshi,” the bird said in Mukuro’s voice without moving its beak, “there is.” A sudden gust of wind and a blizzard of flower petals – lotus petals, probably — forced Tsuna to close his eyes and bring his arms up protectively. When he lowered them, Mukuro was sitting on the windowsill with a creepy smile fixed on his face. Tsuna was relieved to note the illusionist wasn’t armed with a trident.

“And what… What might that be?”

“I won’t bore you with the details of what happened in the aftermath of our fight.” Mukuro waved a hand. “All you need to know is that my subordinates — Ken and Chikusa — were able to escape from the Vindice. They, along with a girl who is currently acting as my medium, will be arriving in Namimori shortly. I want you to place them under the protection of the Vongola Famiglia. In return, I will offer my services as your Mist Guardian.”

“Wait!” Tsuna’s brain was starting to hurt with the flood of information Mukuro was pelting at him. “Mist Guardian? What is that?” And after a few beats of further processing, he added, “And does that mean you’re still…still imprisoned by the Vindice, Mukuro?”

Mukuro looked at Tsuna with unblinking mismatched eyes. While Tsuna was getting better at receiving intimidating looks, the constant reminder of Mukuro’s power in the illusionist’s red eye made Tsuna obey the ingrained, instinctual desire to wilt in the face of confrontation.

“Your Arcobaleno hasn’t told you much, has he?” Mukuro mused, finally blinking and turning his attention to a poster on Tsuna’s wall. Tsuna wondered if Mukuro had broken into his room sometime before, or if the illusionist was drawing from his memories. It was almost like…Mukuro wanted him to be in a familiar place. “The Vongola Famiglia has a tradition — their Boss is supported and protected by six bodyguards, or Guardians, who, based on their personalities, are assigned titles derived from the weather. Of those titles, I believe the Mist Guardian suits me best as an illusionist. The information may be dated; I got it from Lancia.”

Tsuna mentally apologized to Lancia-san for not asking after him, and focused on the fact he was supposed to have bodyguards. “But I don’t want bodyguards! How would I even get them?”

Mukuro gave him an unimpressed look. “I thought your three friends are your Guardians; the skylark has the makings of a Cloud, and the ones Ken and Chikusa fought seemed very loyal to and protective of you. But if you aren’t aware of it, then your Arcobaleno must be subtly directing you to potential Guardians, or drawing them to you.”

“Hibari-san, Gokudera-kun, and Yamamoto…?” Tsuna whispered in confusion. Now that he thought about it, Oniisan, Lambo, and even Kyoko-chan and Haru were always getting involved in the Mafia trouble Reborn created. Not as much as Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto, but… He really, really hoped Kyoko-chan wasn’t going to wind up one of his so-called Guardians. Or Haru.

“Do we have a deal, Sawada Tsunayoshi?”

Tsuna knew less about what was happening than usual. But he was sure of two things: he was going to end up in another Mafia mess sooner rather than later, and that when it happened, he wanted Mukuro at his side. He honestly didn’t know how much power he had as the heir to the Vongola Famiglia, but since he was the _only_ heir… “Yes. If you become my Mist Guardian, I’ll make sure your friends are placed under my protection.”

“Then so be it,” Mukuro said with a smile. “Do give Chrome the Ring, when it comes into your possession.”

Before Tsuna could ask, “Who's Chrome?” and “What ring?” another surge of wind and lotus petals interrupted him. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in Namimori Middle, listening to Takeda-sensei drone on about Algebra.

He really needed to figure out what was going on. Maybe this time, he wouldn’t be clueless when he got caught up in the next Mafia mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is cross-posted on my Tumblr. Check it out at: https://mist-chance.tumblr.com/


	2. Chapter 2

Tsuna opened his eyes. He blinked at the familiar poster on his bedroom wall and tried to remember what he’d been doing until now. He didn’t remember sitting on his bed, much less being in his bedroom.

“I see the word of the Vongola Famiglia’s future boss is no better than the Estraneo’s, or any other worthless Famiglia’s,” Mukuro snapped. He thumped the trident in his hand against the floor.

For a moment, Tsuna was blinded by the surge of lotus petals that pelted his face. And when he could see again, he wished he couldn’t.

“W-Wait!” Tsuna scrambled away from Mukuro until his back hit the wall. He raised an arm in front of his chest, though he knew it wouldn’t stop the trident from stabbing him if Mukuro decided to attack. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! What _happened_?”

Tsuna hadn’t heard from Mukuro since agreeing to place the illusionist’s followers under his protection. It’d been almost two weeks, and Tsuna… (Well, he could admit it to himself even if he couldn’t ever admit it to Mukuro…) He’d been _worried_ about his self-proclaimed Mist Guardian.

Maybe he’d gotten the wrong impression — and the trident in his face certainly wasn’t helping — but Tsuna thought Mukuro would stay in contact with him to talk more about the Mafia world. Sure, it was a topic he should probably be talking to Reborn about, but his track-record with his tutor seemed more _need-to-know_ on the Mafia stuff — as in, crazy Mafia things happened, and then Reborn would explain (or imply) its importance and what Tsuna needed to do to prove himself as the Tenth Generation Vongola boss.

Since he’d gotten more information about the Vongola Famiglia and its structure in a brief illusion-based encounter with Mukuro than an hour-long lecture from Reborn, he figured talking with Mukuro was his best bet for figuring out what was going on in the Mafia world.

“Your _father_ happened, Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Mukuro sneered as he loomed over Tsuna’s bed. His red eye seemed to glow, and a visible aura swirled darkly at his shoulders. “He and a few of his CEDEF goons cornered Chikusa, Ken, and Chrome to _persuade_ me, through Chrome, to be your Mist Guardian. _How was he unaware that I already agreed to be your Mist Guardian_?”

“Who was I supposed to tell!” Tsuna pressed back into the wall until his spine and shoulder blades ached. “I tried telling Reborn, but he said, _Stop daydreaming during your classes, Dame-Tsuna, that’s why you’re failing pretty much all of them_ , and how I shouldn’t mistake dreams for reality! Reborn is my only link to the Mafia world, so when he didn’t believe me…”

The cold fury etched into the harsh lines of Mukuro’s face had eased by the time Tsuna helplessly trailed off. It was mostly apathetic, but Tsuna got the sense the illusionist pitied him. Tsuna wasn’t unfamiliar with receiving that sentiment from most people, so it didn’t bother him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect them when I said I would — when I said I _could_. I don’t have any excuse. I’m Dame-Tsuna,” Tsuna said self-deprecatingly. “I can’t do anything right.”

He stared at his wrinkled bedspread and willed away the burning sensation in his eyes. Tears welled up, blurring his vision.

“Is it that you can’t do anything right,” Mukuro said in a contemplative tone, “or is it that you are never told what you need to know in order to make the right choices?”

Tsuna swiped at arm across his eyes and blinked away the remains of his tears. “What do you mean?”

“It’s all subjective, of course; but perhaps everything is stacked against you, so you have no choice but to react in a certain way,” Mukuro mused. He twirled his trident in one hand, allowing it to disperse into a cloud of lotus petals.

The look he leveled at Tsuna was somehow more unnerving than his glare or sneer, mostly because Tsuna felt like he was being examined under a microscope, and he couldn’t tell what the illusionist was seeing — if Mukuro _liked_ what he saw.

“…Mukuro?” Tsuna flinched as the illusionist conjured up a chair with a flick of his wrist.

“Tell me, Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Mukuro said as gracefully sat down. “What do you need to know in order to make your next move?”

“My next — I don’t want to be a Mafia boss!”

The protest was a habit, a familiar phrase to fall back on when nothing made sense; which was often, given how crazy his life had become since Reborn came along with his Mafia this, Mafia that, _Do this to be a better boss Dame-Tsuna, No, do that_. Tsuna stiffened after he uttered it, preparing himself for a reprimanding smack.

Mukuro didn’t react to Tsuna’s token protest. “Sometimes,” he started carefully, “we aren’t given the chance to choose our course of action. Sometimes, the choice isn’t whether or not you _will_ do something, but _how_ you do it.”

Tsuna bit his lip to keep himself from saying something stupid, like _How would you know?_ because he did have tact, and the proof of Mukuro’s words was right in front of him.

Instead, he thought, really thought, about what it would mean to be the boss of an infamous Mafia group. He thought about all the crazy things he’d done and the people he’d met, which could only serve to foreshadow the other things he would do and people he would meet. Maybe what he’d do in the future wouldn’t compare to what he’d done in the past; but that didn’t matter.

Tsuna exhaled shakily and looked into Mukuro’s mismatched eyes. “There’s a lot I don’t know,” he said slowly, weighing the words before he spoke them. “There’s a lot I _need_ to know. Can you… Can you tell me what I need to know, Mukuro?”

A small smile, part knowing and part mischievous, unfurled across the illusionist’s face. Again, Tsuna got the sense of an additional emotion Mukuro wasn’t showing, something that felt a lot like pride, and it was being directed at _him_ …

“Sawada Tsunayoshi, all you have to do is _ask_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally Chapter 1 was supposed to be a one-shot. Then I re-read it and this chapter happened. 
> 
> Also, it's been a while since I've watched _KHR_ , so I may forget the order of canon events or certain details. But this is an AU canon-divergence fic, so it doesn't really matter.


End file.
